Babs, Molly and I recently explored the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art…

She may not look happy, but she’s thrilled beyond belief to be in the company of her favorite cousin:

This is what you see when you first walk into SFMOMA:

And this is what you see if you look straight up after you walk in:

Into the galleries – NO PHOTOGRAPHY PERMITTED! Seriously, the stern Asian docents are very focused on enforcement of this rule. So, I must apologize if some of these pictures are slightly out of focus because I had to take the pictures in a rush or on the sly. Don’t worry though, dear readers, I did not use flash and therefore did not do any damage to the artwork:

You can’t tell in this picture and I didn’t take it because of her, but that girl was really hot:

Mark Rothko
No. 14, 1960, 1960
Oil On Canvas

Andy Warhol

Salvador Dali Sculpture

Marcel Duchamp
Fountain, 1917/1964
Glazed Ceramic with Black Paint

Henri Matisse
Femme au chapeau (Woman with a Hat), 1905
Oil on Canvas

Paul Klee
Park Bild (Park Picture), 1933
Watercolor

An-My Lê

Here is the text from the SFMOMA site about An-My Lê:

In her recent photographic series Small Wars and 29 Palms, Vietnamese American artist An-My Lê delves into Americans’ complicated relationship with war by turning her lens on two of the less familiar sides of conflict: reenactment and rehearsal, respectively. With a style that mirrors documentary photography, Lê depicts Vietnam War reenactors staging theatrical battles in the forests of Virginia and soldiers at the Twentynine Palms, California, military base training for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — warlike activities without the mortal dangers of war. This exhibition unites 50 large-format, black-and-white pictures from the two series, offering a novel perspective on military engagements that maintains a deliberate ambiguity.

Security and Stability Operations
George AFB
2003-2004
Gelatin Silver Print

Soldiers Asleep in Virginia Woods

Le’s 29 Palms pictures were taken at the Marine base of the same name.

Force Recon
2003-4
Gelatin Silver Print

Mechanized Assault
2003-4
Gelatin Silver Print

Colonel Greenwood
2003-4
Gelatin Silver Print

Rescue Operations

 

*****

A lot of people get freaked out about going over this walkway at the top of the museum:

Because you can see straight through to the ground… But, of course, I love it: